With the 10th Annual Bryan Mudryk Golf Classic less than a month away, the event’s namesake is putting in some extra work on the course.
“I just got out (to golf). I played mildly to moderately terrible,” laughed Mudryk, on the line from Toronto where he serves as one of TSN Sportcentre’s highly recognizable anchors. His name and face are familiar to millions of sports fans all over the country, but it’s those back home in Boyle who know him best.
And Boyle is where he’ll be on Saturday, June 16 for the anniversary edition of the event he and his friends and family have worked so hard on for the last decade. On that day, Mudryk will be joined at the Skeleton Lake Golf Club by a number of celebrity guests who will hit the links in support of Edmonton’s Cross Cancer Institute. That night, they’ll reconvene for the annual dinner and dance portion of the event at the Boyle Community Centre.
With so much work and preparation going into the event, Mudryk hopes for the best when it comes to the weather. Last year, a torrential downpour made the golf tournament an adventure, and though the attendees made the best of it, Mudryk hopes they won’t face a similar obstacle this time.
“I need 30-above and sun. I will take no rain,” he laughed. “I’m just praying for good weather. I’ll take decent weather. Just let the rain hold off for one day.”
This year’s list of confirmed special guests (culled from Mudryk’s many friends in the sporting and broadcasting world) includes TSN’s Dan O’Toole, curlers Ben Hebert, John Morris, Kevin Koe and Carter Rycroft, Paul Boyd from Inside Edition, CTV Edmonton’s Rob Williams and Daryl McIntyre, Global Edmonton sports anchor Kevin Karius, Gillian Foote from 100.3 The Bear and former NHL goaltender Jamie McLennan.
Over the years, the Mudryk Classic has raised almost $700,000 for the Cross, and that number is sure to rise this year.
Last year the event broke the $100,000 mark for the first time and Mudryk has even higher hopes for this year.
“I’ll be disappointed if we don’t crack $125,000,” he said.
Disappointment is a relative term, of course; Bryan, his mother and event organizer Terry Mudryk and the countless volunteers who help out at the event appreciate every single donation they receive. But you’ve got to aim high, and with last year’s record-breaking tally of $111,000, it seems there’s nowhere to go but up.
This year, the money raised by the Classic and the numerous associated events (like this weekend’s Battle of the Paddle and United Cycle to Boyle) will be earmarked for the purchase of a Linac-MR, which allows doctors to see and treat cancer with radiation therapy in real time. This new technology is a significant step forward in cancer treatment, and just another step in the fight against cancer.
The fight has already changed a lot since the time Mudryk spent battling the disease in his early twenties. A cancer diagnosis is no longer the death sentence it once was, in no small part due to the research funded by events just like the Mudryk Classic.
And if the Boyle native and his friends have had even a small role in creating that change, all their effort has been worth it.
“I’m so proud of everybody on board. There are really some great quality people behind this cause who do some amazing things.”
For more on the event visit the website at www.bryanmudrykgolfclassic.com.
